Week 3.2
LinkOnScepter
The One who Strangles Concepts to death
- Location
- Interwebs
[] Martial Arts Club
"There you go, Nagai," Hose praises you as he lowers the targeting pads on his hands, "I think you're starting to get the basics down. Spend some time practicing outside of the club, and you'll be ready for the tournament in no time."
"Thanks," you're breathing hard, but it's nothing you're not used to. Hose offered to help you better understand exactly what "MMA" was. Sure the basis of the Fighting Style was a mixture of multiple Styles from across the world, so there's no one specific way of learning it. But that didn't mean you could just do whatever and have it count when it comes to a fight. You needed more focused training, and Hose was willing to help you out. Mostly through making you look like a fool by blocking every strike you sent his way, but you did manage to learn more about the Style.
Mainly that it's much more involved than fights on the streets usually are.
[+5 to MMA]
Your senior grabs a towel off the edge of the ring and tosses it your way. You grab it and start wiping the sweat from your face while walking towards the edge of the ring. Just as you exit the ring, you're approached by another member. Most of the club members, yourself included, had built up a healthy amount of muscle from practicing or simple exercise. It's expected considering you're doing strenuous physical activity, and are expected to go above and beyond the norm when it comes to dedication to it.
And while that was true for this club, there was a disparity between members. It seemed like half of the members were clearly athletic while the other half wasn't. They were muscular , but not to the extent of certain other members. The man walking up to you was one of of these members. He wore a black t-shirt with matching shorts, had his hair slicked back against his skull, and stood favoring his left side. His mouth was split in a full tooth grin while he kept his arms behind his back. He only reached up to your chest, so you had to tilt your head to look him in the eyes.
"Hello there," he sounds kind of congested, but friendly enough, "You're one of the new members, aren't you?"
"Yeah, though I'm kind of uncomfortable with how everyone seems to be able to tell," you chuckle as you wrap the towel around your neck. You're currently wearing training clothes provided to you by the club. A simple pair of red and black short pants and a t-shirt with the Raijin symbol on it, alongside wrappings around your feet rather than shoes. They're made of a pretty good material. Easy to move and breathe in 'em while you train. Though you suppose that's standard for a school like this. You offer your right hand for a shake, "Name's Nagai. Yours?"
[Perception Check: People: 0/10: Fail!]
"Yunagi. Good to meet you," he replies without taking your hand. You raise an eyebrow at that as he continues, "So, if you're new around here, that means you haven't fought with any of the club members yet, right?"
You shrug while nodding your head, "Well, yeah. This is only my second day here, after all. Fighting someone's kind of the farthest thing from my mind right now."
Your admission drives Yunagi to shake his head, "No, no, that won't do. Having a friendly match with your fellow club members is a Rite Of Passage around here. It would be my honor to be your first opponent here in-"
"Yunagi," you both turn to see Hose staring down at you from the ring. His arms are crossed and his narrowed eyes are focused on the shorter man, "What have I told you about picking fights with the newbies?"
"I'm not picking a fight," he says with a shake of his head, "I'm simply offering Nagai the chance to truly join the Raijin Martial Arts Club. Is that so wrong?"
[Evasion Check: Trickery: 0/15: Fail!]
You can't tell if he's lying or not....
[Empathy Check: Motives: 17/15: Success! +5XP]
....but you can tell what his real motive is. If he were simply doing this to induct you, either he or someone else would've made you aware of this your first day here. No, it's more likely he's at this for a different reason.
[Empathy Check: Feelings: 17/15: Success! +5XP]
[Evasion Check: Trickery: 0/20: Fail!]
You smile, put your arm around Yunagi's shoulder, then pull the man close. With a laugh you pat him on the back while guiding him to the ring, "Dude, if you want to fight me, just say so! No need to beat around the bush like this! Mind if we use the ring, Hose?"
Your senior raises an eye at you, but walks out of the ring while motioning for you two to enter. Yunagi tries to squirm out of your grasp the whole time with this weird expression on his face. He goes right back to normal once the two of you have taken up your spots in the ring. You do a few stretches while Yunagi...just stands there with his hands behind his back.
"Um, Yunagi," you say as your bones start popping, "you gonna get ready or...?"
"Do not worry. I'm completely prepared," he gives you another full toothed grin before snapping his fingers, "Oh, I never gave you my full name did I? You see, Yunagi is my first name. My family name is Satoshi."
[Barter Check: 0/20: Fail!]
"Cool. I'm Nagai Hayato. Now we both know each others full names!"
Your response makes Satoshi's mouth gape open in shock, while laughter ripples through the room. Huh, looks like you've gathered an audience at some point. In fact...the entire room has stopped to watch you two go at it.
Huh. They must all really like watching fights.
"As the most senior member here, I'll oversee this match," Hose shouts from outside the ring, "This is an unofficial bout between Nagai Hayato, and Satoshi Yunagi. Both parties will battle until yield or one side is rendered unconscious. Nagai, are you ready?"
"Osu!" you shout as you bounce on the balls of your feet.
"Satoshi, are you ready?"
"Um, ur, yes. I'm ready," Satoshi's voice shakes a bit as he raises his fists.
"Then...," Hose lifts his arm up, pauses for ten seconds, then sends it down, "Begin!"
[Combat Checks]
[Hayato: Street Fighting: 20 + MMA: 10 = 30]
[Yunagi: MMA: 5 = 5]
[Hayato Wins! Overwhelming Victory!]
[+1 XP]
You dash in low with one hand grabbing up whatever dust or dirt you can from the ring's mat. You take what you've got and toss it right at Satoshi. As expected, he shouts and closes his eyes while jumping back. He doesn't see you get up from your crouch with a rising uppercut heading straight for his jaw.
It is here, where you make the discovery.
If you're a Martial Artist, one of the major tenants you learn is to protect your face and head. Even if it's not completely applicable in a real fight, protecting everything above your neck is crucial in any serious battle. One clean hit to a vulnerable part of your head and you're very likely to go down. Beginner Martial Artist drill this fact into their mind, until they instinctively begin to guard their faces and heads from attack. If they can't block the attack, they would try to dodge it. If they can't do that, they'd prep their body to mitigate the damage.
Satoshi didn't do any of this.
He didn't block. He didn't try to dodge. He didn't even brace for the impact.
He simply stood there, eyes watering, as your fist connected with his chin. It was then that you realized the truth.
Satoshi didn't know how to fight.
His body teetered for a moment with his neck craned up towards the ceiling. Then his eyes rolled back into his head until he fell forward onto the mat.
Hose is suddenly at your side, hovering his arm over your shoulder as he looks around the room, "And the winner is, Nagai Hayato!"
Half of the room erupts into roaring applause. The other half stares at you with such intensity you can feel it on your back.
The entire time, you can't help but look down at Satoshi with confusion and awe on your face.
You...didn't hit him that hard....did you?
[Second Martial Arts Club Meeting Complete!]
[+11 XP]
[+5 to MMA]
"There you go, Nagai," Hose praises you as he lowers the targeting pads on his hands, "I think you're starting to get the basics down. Spend some time practicing outside of the club, and you'll be ready for the tournament in no time."
"Thanks," you're breathing hard, but it's nothing you're not used to. Hose offered to help you better understand exactly what "MMA" was. Sure the basis of the Fighting Style was a mixture of multiple Styles from across the world, so there's no one specific way of learning it. But that didn't mean you could just do whatever and have it count when it comes to a fight. You needed more focused training, and Hose was willing to help you out. Mostly through making you look like a fool by blocking every strike you sent his way, but you did manage to learn more about the Style.
Mainly that it's much more involved than fights on the streets usually are.
[+5 to MMA]
Your senior grabs a towel off the edge of the ring and tosses it your way. You grab it and start wiping the sweat from your face while walking towards the edge of the ring. Just as you exit the ring, you're approached by another member. Most of the club members, yourself included, had built up a healthy amount of muscle from practicing or simple exercise. It's expected considering you're doing strenuous physical activity, and are expected to go above and beyond the norm when it comes to dedication to it.
And while that was true for this club, there was a disparity between members. It seemed like half of the members were clearly athletic while the other half wasn't. They were muscular , but not to the extent of certain other members. The man walking up to you was one of of these members. He wore a black t-shirt with matching shorts, had his hair slicked back against his skull, and stood favoring his left side. His mouth was split in a full tooth grin while he kept his arms behind his back. He only reached up to your chest, so you had to tilt your head to look him in the eyes.
"Hello there," he sounds kind of congested, but friendly enough, "You're one of the new members, aren't you?"
"Yeah, though I'm kind of uncomfortable with how everyone seems to be able to tell," you chuckle as you wrap the towel around your neck. You're currently wearing training clothes provided to you by the club. A simple pair of red and black short pants and a t-shirt with the Raijin symbol on it, alongside wrappings around your feet rather than shoes. They're made of a pretty good material. Easy to move and breathe in 'em while you train. Though you suppose that's standard for a school like this. You offer your right hand for a shake, "Name's Nagai. Yours?"
[Perception Check: People: 0/10: Fail!]
"Yunagi. Good to meet you," he replies without taking your hand. You raise an eyebrow at that as he continues, "So, if you're new around here, that means you haven't fought with any of the club members yet, right?"
You shrug while nodding your head, "Well, yeah. This is only my second day here, after all. Fighting someone's kind of the farthest thing from my mind right now."
Your admission drives Yunagi to shake his head, "No, no, that won't do. Having a friendly match with your fellow club members is a Rite Of Passage around here. It would be my honor to be your first opponent here in-"
"Yunagi," you both turn to see Hose staring down at you from the ring. His arms are crossed and his narrowed eyes are focused on the shorter man, "What have I told you about picking fights with the newbies?"
"I'm not picking a fight," he says with a shake of his head, "I'm simply offering Nagai the chance to truly join the Raijin Martial Arts Club. Is that so wrong?"
[Evasion Check: Trickery: 0/15: Fail!]
You can't tell if he's lying or not....
[Empathy Check: Motives: 17/15: Success! +5XP]
....but you can tell what his real motive is. If he were simply doing this to induct you, either he or someone else would've made you aware of this your first day here. No, it's more likely he's at this for a different reason.
[Empathy Check: Feelings: 17/15: Success! +5XP]
[Evasion Check: Trickery: 0/20: Fail!]
You smile, put your arm around Yunagi's shoulder, then pull the man close. With a laugh you pat him on the back while guiding him to the ring, "Dude, if you want to fight me, just say so! No need to beat around the bush like this! Mind if we use the ring, Hose?"
Your senior raises an eye at you, but walks out of the ring while motioning for you two to enter. Yunagi tries to squirm out of your grasp the whole time with this weird expression on his face. He goes right back to normal once the two of you have taken up your spots in the ring. You do a few stretches while Yunagi...just stands there with his hands behind his back.
"Um, Yunagi," you say as your bones start popping, "you gonna get ready or...?"
"Do not worry. I'm completely prepared," he gives you another full toothed grin before snapping his fingers, "Oh, I never gave you my full name did I? You see, Yunagi is my first name. My family name is Satoshi."
[Barter Check: 0/20: Fail!]
"Cool. I'm Nagai Hayato. Now we both know each others full names!"
Your response makes Satoshi's mouth gape open in shock, while laughter ripples through the room. Huh, looks like you've gathered an audience at some point. In fact...the entire room has stopped to watch you two go at it.
Huh. They must all really like watching fights.
"As the most senior member here, I'll oversee this match," Hose shouts from outside the ring, "This is an unofficial bout between Nagai Hayato, and Satoshi Yunagi. Both parties will battle until yield or one side is rendered unconscious. Nagai, are you ready?"
"Osu!" you shout as you bounce on the balls of your feet.
"Satoshi, are you ready?"
"Um, ur, yes. I'm ready," Satoshi's voice shakes a bit as he raises his fists.
"Then...," Hose lifts his arm up, pauses for ten seconds, then sends it down, "Begin!"
[Combat Checks]
[Hayato: Street Fighting: 20 + MMA: 10 = 30]
[Yunagi: MMA: 5 = 5]
[Hayato Wins! Overwhelming Victory!]
[+1 XP]
You dash in low with one hand grabbing up whatever dust or dirt you can from the ring's mat. You take what you've got and toss it right at Satoshi. As expected, he shouts and closes his eyes while jumping back. He doesn't see you get up from your crouch with a rising uppercut heading straight for his jaw.
It is here, where you make the discovery.
If you're a Martial Artist, one of the major tenants you learn is to protect your face and head. Even if it's not completely applicable in a real fight, protecting everything above your neck is crucial in any serious battle. One clean hit to a vulnerable part of your head and you're very likely to go down. Beginner Martial Artist drill this fact into their mind, until they instinctively begin to guard their faces and heads from attack. If they can't block the attack, they would try to dodge it. If they can't do that, they'd prep their body to mitigate the damage.
Satoshi didn't do any of this.
He didn't block. He didn't try to dodge. He didn't even brace for the impact.
He simply stood there, eyes watering, as your fist connected with his chin. It was then that you realized the truth.
Satoshi didn't know how to fight.
His body teetered for a moment with his neck craned up towards the ceiling. Then his eyes rolled back into his head until he fell forward onto the mat.
Hose is suddenly at your side, hovering his arm over your shoulder as he looks around the room, "And the winner is, Nagai Hayato!"
Half of the room erupts into roaring applause. The other half stares at you with such intensity you can feel it on your back.
The entire time, you can't help but look down at Satoshi with confusion and awe on your face.
You...didn't hit him that hard....did you?
[Second Martial Arts Club Meeting Complete!]
[+11 XP]
[+5 to MMA]
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